Ousted South Korean president faces death penalty in insurrection case

"SEOUL - A South Korean court is set to issue its verdict Thursday in the insurrection case against the country's impeached president, who declared martial law in an alleged power grab in late 2024, and now faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted. The impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been on trial for his failed attempt to install a military-led government in the democratic country late one night in December 2024."

"Prosecutors have requested the death sentence. The case marks a pivotal moment in South Korea's relatively young democratic history, which dates to 1987 after a democratic uprising toppled a brutal military-led government under Chun Doo-hwan. Chun was sentenced to death in 1996 after being convicted on similar insurrection charges for seizing power during a coup in 1979. On appeal, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he was later pardoned."

""The conviction of an ex-president demonstrates that no one is above the law," said Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution's Center for Asia Policy Studies in Washington, adding: "The conviction of Yoon through the judicial process reflects South Korea's democratic resilience." If convicted, Yoon, too, ultimately could be spared execution. South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997 and is widely regarded as a country where, for all practical purposes, the death penalty is banned."

South Korea's impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, faces a court verdict in an insurrection case over an alleged December 2024 attempt to declare martial law and install a military-led government. Yoon is charged with organizing an insurrection and other crimes that carry possible sentences of life imprisonment with or without labor, or death; prosecutors have requested the death penalty. The case evokes comparisons to Chun Doo-hwan's 1979 coup conviction and highlights a pivotal moment in South Korea's democratic history. Democracy advocates and experts say a conviction would reaffirm the rule of law and show no one is above the law. South Korea has not executed anyone since 1997.

Read at The Washington Post